Amazon SES alternatives
Amazon SES is already the cheapest email API we track at 100k emails/mo ($10/mo). Here's how the other 8 compare. Ranked by price at the size you pick, with free plans, price hikes and how to switch.
Alternatives to Amazon SES at 100k emails/mo, cheapest first
- SendGrid: $34.95/mo (Essentials (Pro above 100k)). Free plan: none. Last price hike: May 2025.
- Resend: $35/mo (Pro (Scale above 100k)). Free plan: 3,000 emails/mo (100/day).
- MailerSend: $68/mo (Hobby + overage, then Starter). Free plan: 500 emails/mo. Last price hike: Dec 2025.
- Mailgun: $75/mo (Basic, Foundation, then Scale). Free plan: 100 emails/day. Last price hike: Dec 2025.
- Brevo: $82/mo (Starter (Standard 500k, Professional 1M)). Free plan: 300 emails/day.
- Plunk: $100/mo (Pay as you go). Free plan: 1,000 emails/mo.
- Postmark: $115/mo (Basic plan). Free plan: 100 emails/mo (Free plan). Last price hike: Jan 2023.
- Loops: $199/mo (Growth (4 emails per contact)). Free plan: 1,000 contacts, 4,000 sends a month.
Prices at every size
- Amazon SES: 10k emails/mo $1/mo, 50k emails/mo $5/mo, 100k emails/mo $10/mo, 500k emails/mo $50/mo, 1M emails/mo $100/mo (new accounts start on $0.16/1k Essentials)
- SendGrid: 10k emails/mo $19.95/mo, 50k emails/mo $19.95/mo, 100k emails/mo $34.95/mo, 500k emails/mo $499/mo, 1M emails/mo $799/mo
- Resend: 10k emails/mo $20/mo, 50k emails/mo $20/mo, 100k emails/mo $35/mo, 500k emails/mo $350/mo, 1M emails/mo $650/mo
- MailerSend: 10k emails/mo $14.50/mo, 50k emails/mo $35/mo, 100k emails/mo $68/mo, 500k emails/mo $325/mo, 1M emails/mo $600/mo
- Mailgun: 10k emails/mo $15/mo, 50k emails/mo $35/mo, 100k emails/mo $75/mo, 500k emails/mo $400/mo, 1M emails/mo $700/mo
- Brevo: 10k emails/mo $17/mo, 50k emails/mo $56/mo, 100k emails/mo $82/mo, 500k emails/mo $429/mo, 1M emails/mo $999/mo
- Plunk: 10k emails/mo $10/mo, 50k emails/mo $50/mo, 100k emails/mo $100/mo, 500k emails/mo $500/mo, 1M emails/mo $1,000/mo
- Postmark: 10k emails/mo $15/mo, 50k emails/mo $55/mo, 100k emails/mo $115/mo, 500k emails/mo $455/mo, 1M emails/mo $775/mo
- Loops: 10k emails/mo $49/mo, 50k emails/mo $149/mo, 100k emails/mo $199/mo, 500k emails/mo $599/mo, 1M emails/mo $1,199/mo
Cheapest paid plan (plus overage when that's cheaper) covering the monthly volume, billed monthly. Contact-based pricing assumes 4 emails per contact.
How to move from Amazon SES to SendGrid
- 1. Verify your sending domain on SendGrid. Add SendGrid's SPF, DKIM and DMARC records at your DNS host. Keep Amazon SES's records until you've fully switched.
- 2. Export your suppression list from Amazon SES. Look for Export in Amazon SES's settings. Bounces, complaints and unsubscribes must carry over, or you'll email people who opted out.
- 3. Set up SendGrid. Use SendGrid's import tool, or ask their support to run it for you. Recreate your templates and import the suppression list.
- 4. Swap the API key behind a flag. Send a slice of traffic (say 10%) through SendGrid first and watch bounces and spam complaints for a day.
- 5. Re-point webhooks. Bounce, complaint, open and click webhooks need new endpoints and payload parsing for SendGrid.
- 6. Ramp up, then cancel Amazon SES. If you send a lot, ramp volume over one to two weeks so mailbox providers get used to the new infrastructure. Cancel Amazon SES once all traffic has moved.
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Everything about Amazon SES's own prices and price hikes: Amazon SES.